Drapery track assembly

ABSTRACT

A drapery track assembly includes a wall plate securable to a wall, and a track-carrying member having at least one track for carrying curtain runners extending longitudinally of the member, said wall plate having interlocking means and said track-carrying member having interlocking means co-operable with the interlocking means of said wall plate by an interlocking action to secure the track-carrying member to the wall plate. The interlocking means of the track-carrying member may include a substantially vertical flange, and the interlocking means of the wall plate may include a lower forwardly projecting ledge and an upper downwardly projecting lip to enable the upper edge of the flange to be positioned behind the lip and the lower edge of the flange to rest on the ledge. The track-carrying member may include a plate-like body from which the track is suspended. Preferably, the plate-like body extends forwardly from the wall plate in an upwardly inclined direction when the track-carrying member is secured to the wall plate attached to a wall.

United States Patent Harby 1 Oct. 24, 1972 [54] DRAPERY TRACK ASSEMBLY124,859 5/ 1949 Sweden ..16/87.4 170,983 8/1934 Switzerland ..l6/96 [72]Inventor. Bernard M. Harby, West Vancouver, Columbia, Canada Switzerland[73] Assignee: Bernard Hal-by Limited, Vancouver, Primary Examiner-BobbyR. Gay

I Brit sh Co u Canada Assistant ExaminerPeter A. Asc'henbrenner [22]Filed: Sept 8, 1969 Attorney-Stevens, Davis, Miller & Mosher 21 Appl.No.: 856,024

30 Foreign Application Priority Data June 23, 1969 Canada ..055,071

[52] US. Cl. 16/94 D, 248/224, 16/93 D [51] Int. Cl ..A47h 15/00, E05d13/02 [58] Field of Search ..16/87, 87.4, 87.8, 94, 95, 16/96; 298/223,224; 160/235 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,371,7013/1968 Toti ......160/235 3,381,636 5/1968 Saiberlich ..248/2243,117,353 1 H1964 Edwards ..248/224 459,844 9/1891 Thomas ..248/2232,117,606 5/1938 French ..16/87.8 815,371 3/1906 Myers ..16/94 FOREIGNPATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 254,538 9/ 1964 Australia ..16/87.4 254,0747/1963 Australia ..16/94 [57] ABSTRACT A drapery track assembly includesa wall plate securable to a wall, and a track-carrying member having atleast one track for carrying curtain runners extending longitudinally ofthe member, said wall plate having interlocking means and saidtrack-carrying member having interlocking means co-operable with theinterlocking means of said wall plate by an interlocking action tosecure the track-carrying member to the wall plate. The interlockingmeans of the track-carrying member may include a substantially verticalflange, and the interlocking means of the wall plate may include a lowerforwardly projecting ledge and an upper I downwardly projecting lip toenable the upper edge of the flange to be positioned behind the lip andthe lower edge of the flange to rest on the ledge. The track-carryingmember may include a plate-like body from which the track is suspended.Preferably, the plate-like body extends forwardly from the wall plate inan upwardly inclined direction when the track-carrying member is securedto the wall plate attached to a wall.

PATENTEDucI24 1912 SHEET 1 [IF 2 PATENTED B 24 I97? 3. 6 99,610

suwanrz DRAPERY TRACK ASSEMBLY This invention relates to drapery trackassemblies which are securable to a wall or ceiling and include meansfrom which curtains can be suspended.

Drapery track assemblies have to fulfil .several requirements. Theyshould be inexpensive, and thus easy to manufacture from inexpensivematerial. They should have a small number of separate parts, and shouldbe easy to secure to a wall or ceiling. Even though drapery trackassemblies may have to be long in view of the wide windows commonlyfound in houses and elsewhere, they should be capable of beingconveniently packaged and handled. Also, they have to be quiet andreliable in operation.

Most known drapery track assemblies lack at least one of theserequirements, and thus it is anobject of this invention to provide animproved draperytrack assembly which substantially meets theabove-mentioned requirements.

According to this invention, a drapery track assembly includes a wallplate securable to a wall, and a track carrying member having at leastone track for carrying curtain runners extending longitudinally of themember, said wall plate having interlocking means and saidtrack-carrying member having interlocking means co-operable with theinterlocking means of said wall plate by an interlocking action tosecure the track-carrying member to the wall plate.

The interlocking means of the track-carrying member may include asubstantially vertical flange, and the interlocking means of the wallplate may include a lower forwardly projecting ledge and an upperdownwardly projecting lip to enable the upper edge of the flange to bepositioned behind the lip and the lower edge of the flange to rest onthe ledge.

The track-carrying member may include a plate-like body from which thetrack is suspended. Preferably, the plate-like body extends forwardlyfrom the wall plate in an upwardly inclined direction when thetrackcarrying member is secured to the wall plate attached to a wall.

The track may include two downwardly extending arms having free endportions spaced from and directed towards one another. The free endportions may extend in the same substantially horizontal plane. Ifdesired, the track-carrying member may have two tracks for carryingcurtain runners extending longitudinally of the member in side-by-sideparallel relationship.

The plate-like body of the track-carrying member may have two spacedupwardly extending projections engageable with a ceiling to correctlyposition the body with respect thereto.

The track-carrying member may have means for securing a valance platethereto. The valance plate may have means enabling it to be interlockedwith the corresponding means of the track-carrying member. Thetrack-carrying member may have a front plate depending from the frontedge of the plate-like body, the front plate having means on its frontsurface for securing the valance plate thereto. This securing means mayinclude two horizontal vertically spaced projections with grooves intheir upper surfaces to receive complementary projections on the rearsurface of the valance plate. Alternatively, the valance plate may beintegral with the track-carrying member.

The drapery track assembly according to the invention can bereadilyinstalled by first securing the wall plate to a wall, and thenconnecting the track-carrying member thereto by interlocking action.Alternatively, the track-carrying member can be secured to a ceiling,

I where this is more convenient, thus dispensing with the wall plate. Inthe case where the valance plate is not integral with the track-carryingmember, it may readily be attached thereto, for example by theinterlocking action referred to above.

The track-carrying member, wall plate and valance plate may be easilyand inexpensively manufactured by extrusion of a suitable material, forexample aluminum. Thus, the assembly is not unduly expensive, nordifficult to package and handle. Also, it will be appreciated thatrelatively few parts are involved. By the use of suitable curtainrunners in the track, quiet and reliable operation is obtained.

It will be understood that terms such as horizontal, vertical, front andrear are used in this specification to facilitate the description of thevarious parts of the drapery track assembly, and that these terms referto the attitude of the various parts after installation.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example,with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which,

FIG. 1 is a sectional side view of a drapery track assembly with thewall plate secured to a wall,

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary front view of the assembly of FIG. 1, with thevalance plate removed, showing one end of the assembly,

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing the track-carrying member secured toa ceiling, and

FIG. 4 is a sectional side view of an assembly used with a falseceiling.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, FIG. I shows a drapery trackassembly including a wall plate 1 secured to a wall 2 near aceiling 3.The wall plate 1 has a vertical plate-like body 4 with a horizontalledge 5 projecting forwardly from its lower edge. A horizontal flange 6projects forwardly from the upper edge of the plate-like body 4, and alip 7 projects downwardly and outwardly from the front end of the flange6. The wall plate 1 is secured to the wall 2 by a series oflongitudinally spaced countersunk screws 4a passing through theplate-like body 4.

The assembly also includes a track-carrying member 8 which has aplate-like body 9 at the rear edge of which is a vertical flange 10extending above and below the body 9 at its junction therewith. Theflange 10 can be interlocked with the wall plate 1 to secure thetrackcarrying member 8 thereto. To do this, the upper edge of the flange10 is inserted between the lip 7 and the body 4 and is then movedangularly towards the body 4 to position the lower edge of the flange 10over the ledge 5 of the wall plate 1. The weight of the track-carryingmember 8 is then supported by the ledge 5, and the lip 7 prevents theflange 10 from moving away from the wall plate 1. The plate-like body 9extends from the vertical flange 10 in an upwardly inclined direction sothat the front edge of the body 9 is relatively close to the ceiling 3.

The body 9 carries two parallel longitudinally extending tracks 11. Eachtrack 11 is formed by two arms 12 which extend downwardly from the body9 and have free end portions 13 which are directed towards and arespaced from one another so as to lie in the same horizontal plane. Eachtrack 11 can receive curtain runners in known manner, and it providedwith end stops (not shown) to retain the runners on the track.

' The track-carrying member 8 also includes a vertical front plate 14extending vertically downwardly from the front edge. The front surfaceof the front plate 14 carries two longitudinally extending horizontaland vertically spaced projections 15 with grooves in their uppersurfaces. These grooved projections 15 receive complementary shaped andpositioned projections 16 on the rear surface of a valance plate 17,whose front surface is suitably decorated. The valance plate 17 isassembled with the track-carrying member 8 by simply hanging it onto thefront plate 14.

FIG. 2 is an end view of the assembly without the valance plate 17, andshows how a lower part of the front plate 14 and the tracks 11 are cutaway at the end of the track-carrying member 8 to allow the curtainrunners and stops (not shown) to be assembled with the tracks 11.

Referring now to FIG. 3, the assembly can be secured to the ceiling 3,omitting the wall plate 1, where this is more convenient. For thispurpose, the body 9 of the track-carrying member 8 has a pair of spacedupwardly extending projections 19 which extend to a position in linewith the front edge of the body 9 and the upper edge of the flange 10.The track-carrying member 8 is secured to the ceiling 3 bylongitudinally spaced countersunk screws 9a passing through the body 9between the projections 19. The projections 19 limit upward movement ofthe body 9 when tightening these screws 9a.

FIG. 4 shows how the assembly can be used with a false ceiling 20. Inthis case, the wall plate is used, but the valance plate 17 is omitted.The wall plate 1 is secured to the wall 2 at such a height that thelower edge of the front plate 14 of the track-carrying assembly 8 islevel with the lower surface of the false ceiling 20. A gap between thefront plate 14 and the ceiling 20 may be covered by an inverted T-shapedbar 21 secured to the walls or other fixtures in any convenient manner.

In a further embodiment, the front plate 14 is omitted, and the valanceplate 17 is integral with the track-carrying member 18 and projectsdownwardly from the front edge of the body 9.

The wall plate 1, track-carrying member 8 and valance plate 17 may eachbe manufactured by extrusion of a suitable material, for examplealuminum. Aluminum extrusions are suitably inexpensive and sufficientlystrong.

I claim:

1. A drapery track assembly including an extruded track-carrying member,said track-carrying member having a substantially horizontal plate-likeelongated body with at least one longitudinally extending integraldrapery track projecting downwardly therefrom, a first integralvertically extending flange extending along one longitudinal edge ofsaid body, said first flange extending above and below said one edge toprovide an upwardly extending lip above said body and a downwardlyextending lip below said body, said downwardly extending lip beinglonger than said upwardly extending li and a second integral verticallyextending flange ex ending alongan opposite longitudinal edge of saidbody and projecting downwardly therefrom, said second'flange having asurface facing away from said drapery track and a pair of integralparallel upwardly directed hook-like projections extendinglongitudinally along said surface, an extruded valance plate of greaterwidth than said second flange having a pair of integral paralleldownwardly directed hook-like projections extending longitudinally alongone surface thereof, said integral downwardly directed projections ofsaid valance plate being engaged with said integral upwardly directedprojections of said second flange to secure said valance plate to saidtrackcarrying member with said valance plate extending below said secondflange, an extruded wall plate of substantially the same length as saidtrack-carrying member and said valance plate, said valance plate beingsecurable to a wall and having an integral lower forwardly projectingledge and an integral upper downwardly projecting lip on one facethereof, said downwardly extending lip of said first flange of saidtrack-carrying member resting on said ledge of said wall plate and saidupwardly extending lip of said first flange being positioned behind thedownwardly pro- 40 jecting lip of said wall plate to secure saidtrack-carry-

1. A drapery track assembly including an extruded track-carrying member,said track-carrying member having a substantially horizontal plate-likeelongated body with at least one longitudinally extending integraldrapery track projecting downwardly therefrom, a first integralvertically extending flange extending along one longitudinal edge ofsaid body, said first flange extending above and below said one edge toprovide an upwardly extending lip above said body and a downwardlyextending lip below said body, said downwardly extending lip beinglonger than said upwardly extending lip, and a second integralvertically extending flange extending along an opposite longitudinaledge of said body and projecting downwardly therefrom, said secondflange having a surface facing away from said drapery track and a pairof integral parallel upwardly directed hook-like projections extendinglongitudinally along said surface, an extruded valance plate of greaterwidth than said second flange having a pair of integral paralleldownwardly directed hook-like projections extending longitudinally alongone surface thereof, said integral downwardly directed projections ofsaid valance plate being engaged with said integral upwardly directedprojections of said second flange to secure said valance plate to saidtrack-carrying member with said valance plate extending below saidsecond flange, an extruded wall plate of substantially the same lengthas said track-carrying member and said valance plate, said valance platebeing securable to a wall and having an integral lower forwardlyprojecting ledge and an integral upper downwardly projecting lip on oneface thereof, said downwardly extending lip of said first flange of saidtrackcarrying member resting on said ledge of said wall plate and saidupwardly extending lip of said first flange being positioned behind thedownwardly projecting lip of said wall plate to secure saidtrack-carrying member to said wall plate, and the length of said firstflange of said track-carrying member relative to the distance betweensaid downwardly projecting lip and said ledge of said wall plate beingsuch as to permit said track-carrying member to be assembled with andremoved from said wall plate by angular movement of said track-carryingmember relative to said wall plate about an axis extendinglongitudinally of said trackcarrying member.